CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A hearing Friday set for the purpose of sentencing death
row inmate Quisi Bryan in a 1994 rape case turned into a forum of opinions on
how the criminal justice system responded to rape reports in the past – and
what needs to happen in the future.

Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge David Matia sentenced Bryan,
convicted of killing Cleveland Patrolman Wayne Leon in 2000, to up to 50 years in
prison for in the rape case. The case is one of thousands being reopened as rape kits
that sat idle, sometimes for decades are tested as part of a statewide
initiative.

View full sizeJudge David Matia questioned whether victims have a choice in whether to prosecute their attackers in rape kit cases.Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer

Matia blasted Bryan, who emphasized his Muslim faith as he
represented himself at trial, for not sparing the victim the trauma of testifying in front of a jury.

"Now the whole world knows what you did," Matia said. "You
are a rapist and a hypocrite."

Bryan had said he would have pleaded guilty to a charge of gross sexual imposition but prosecutors wanted him to admit to rape.

But Matia also raised the same questions in regards to the
decision of Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty to bring the case to
trial.

"What is achieved by pursuing a case against a man already
sentenced to death plus some 40-something years?" Matia asked.

If the prosecution is something the victim desires, Matia
said, the costs may be worth it. But Matia said he had concerns when he heard about pressure
being put on the 50-year-old woman, who wanted justice in the 1994 attack but was reluctant and
terrified to come to court.

In the end, the victim testified against Bryan and prosecutors
said she was satisfied to see him convicted and wants to help other rape
survivors.

She didn't attend the sentencing but a note the woman wrote was read by victim advocate Marya Simmons. The letter said she had agonized for hours over
how to put her feelings into words.

"I want you to feel the hurt and the pain you sent me
through," the note said. "I have forgiven you so I can move on in my life."

Bryan, 43, eschewed an opportunity to speak about the case,
and instead tried to use the hearing as a platform to challenge McGinty to take
as fervent as an approach to prosecuting police officers who shot two unarmed
people during a police chase in 2012.

View full sizeQuisi Bryan, 43, was sentenced to between 20 and 50 years for raping a woman in 1994.Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer

"Your call for justice on that one has been more like a
quiet whisper," Bryan said.

McGinty refused to acknowledge what he called Bryan's
"political concerns" and instead put the focus on the woman who survived her
encounter with Bryan almost 20 years ago.

McGinty called her courageous and applauded her for
confronting her attacker – an intimidating serial rapist and cop killer – in a
courtroom.

McGinty, who has made the rape kit initiative the
centerpiece of his tenure as prosecutor by forming the DNA Cold Case Task
Force, explained his personal and public safety rationale for pursuing the case
in a press release and an impromptu press conference after the sentencing
hearing.

In terms of Bryan's case, one of 85 indicted as part of
the first year of the initiative, McGinty's message was multi-faceted.

McGinty said a better law enforcement response in the 1990s to
reports that vulnerable black women were being pulled off the street and raped
on Cleveland's East side could have saved Leon's life.

"It is now clear that (Bryan) killed Police Officer Wayne
Leon in cold blood to avoid arrest for these rapes, not to avoid a traffic
ticket," McGinty asserted.

Bryan shot
Leon in the face on June 25, 2000 after the officer pulled him over for a
traffic violation.

Bryan, who often worked as an unarmed security officer, already had a violent criminal history and was on parole at the time of the shooting. McGinty said
if evidence collected in rapes now linked to Bryan had been tested earlier, the
public would have been alerted that a serial rapist with a discernible pattern
was on the loose.

The victim testified that she saw Bryan, dressed in a security uniform, boarding a city bus about a month after the rape and called to police to alert them. She said they never responded to the call.

DNA testing in recent years has linked Bryan to four rapes reported in 1994 and one rape reported in
2000.

In the early
1990s, DNA testing of rape kits was rare in Ohio. Some testing was done for
sperm or to discern a blood type of an attacker. There also were not yet large
databases of DNA profiles to be used for comparison. In the late
1990s and early 2000s, testing became more common as a law enforcement tool,
though it was still costly and the state lab struggled to process backlogs of
DNA evidence.

Bryan's
earlier sexual assault convictions, from 2007, were based on results from
short-lived grant that paid police departments to test kits.

McGinty said
he expects other rapes to be linked to Bryan as a state lab tests kits from
1995 through 2000.

"It would be
foolish to think he quit," McGinty said Friday after the hearing.

McGinty said
he would prosecute each and every one of those cases linked to Bryan and any
other yet-to-be-identified serial rapists. In Bryan's
case, as insurance in the event an appeals court ever reverses his death sentence.

In the other cases, to pursue justice for victims and
prevent future attacks.

"There are no freebies," McGinty said. "No volume discount
here."

He expects by the time all Cuyahoga County rape kits are
tested the project could net 1,000 indictments.

Matia, during the hearing, questioned if prosecutors give
rape victims a choice in whether or not to prosecute their attacker.

McGinty made it clear after the hearing his belief that
decision is for his office – which represents the victims and the entire
community -- to make. He believes it is unfair to put the decision to prosecute on the shoulders of a victim.

He said that he never wants to have a victim who is reluctant to testify forcefully hauled into court or arrested and jailed for choosing not to cooperate -- though he stopped short of making that promise.

But he also may move forward on their cases without them, which
would be difficult, but not unprecedented.

McGinty said the office is also adding to their victim and
witness advocacy team so that they can help victims through what can be an
extremely difficult and emotional process in hopes they will trust a system
that often failed them once before.

"One thing we have learned during the first year of our DNA
Cold Case Task Force is how important these advocates are in building a
successful case," McGinty said.

Experts have warned that victims could be damaged psychologically if they are pushed too hard to relive the trauma of being raped. However, proper no-strings-attached support can help encourage victims to participate, research has shown.

Matia and McGinty seemed to agree that the lessons learned
and the future repercussions of the discussion extend beyond the sentencing of
Quisi Bryan.

Matia said the case was another painful reminder that
Cleveland's law enforcement community had poorly served victims of sexual
assault over the last few decades. He said work needed to be done so that "neglectful attitudes
toward urban victims of sexual assault cease."

McGinty said as part of that work the remaining sexual
assault kits on evidence room shelves across the county need to be tested
swiftly. The sooner that's done, "the sooner we can identify and
arrest the other active serial rapists in Cleveland and prevent other
unnecessary rape victims or murdered police officers," McGinty said.

Cleveland police have
said they expect to have almost of all of their 4,000 or more untested kits
sent for testing by late spring or early summer. Since 2010, the department has
been sending every kit collected in a newly reported rape for testing.

Matia said he hoped authorities were as vigorous in pursuing
help and healing for Bryan's victim and others as they are in pursing the
criminal cases.

"Counseling should be provided. Follow up care should be
mandated. That would be justice."

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